Ministries of Freddie and Kandee Harris
November 1984 to November 2000
We have been involved in a great number of outreaches in France.
Music has been a great avenue of ministry. I was a founding member of music ministry called Master Music. That first year (1985) we performed seven evangelistic musicals in the Paris region, with 5-600 in average attendance. There were individuals who accepted the Lord at each presentation, with local churches doing the follow-up. Though I did not continue working in this group the second year, today Master Music has grown much bigger, composing and producing Christian music, organizing evangelistic and praise concerts and music festivals.
We have also helped organized many evangelistic concerts: Christian rock, Contemporary, Jazz; hosted Christian college choirs, brass ensembles, bell choirs. The French love music and we are always able to touch new people through this means. Pascal Combadiere was my plumber and I invited him to a concert and he later accepted the Lord as his Savior. My singing in the city choir also gave me many great friends and contacts, as well as hours of enjoyment. Paul Fery was the bass singer standing right next to me. I found out that he was the Assistant Mayor in Eaubonne and thanks to this friendship, we enjoyed years of good relations with city authorities.
Kandee and I have also always been very involved in the music ministry in the French churches: worship music, Christmas cantatas, evenings of praise and concerts of prayer. The ministry of music has helped young Christians advance for the Lord. Carlos Gaspar is a young man that I had the joy of discipling. Since he loved playing guitar, he soon joined Kandee at the guitar for the Sunday Worship service. By this means, Carlos got very involved in the church. He ended up marrying one of our deaconesses and becoming the church’s treasurer.
Sports might also be one of the best ways we have found to reach people. Collaborating with a couple American churches, Christian colleges, and sports outreaches such as Athletes in Action, Sports Ambassadors, and Ultimate Goals Ministries, we have organized ten or more basketball tournaments, and almost as many soccer tournaments. We have had the joy of seeing French players and even some spectators pray to accept the Lord. Charles-Henry Zamour was a French basketball player who came to Christ and was baptized in our church.
Organizing summer teams has been a very exciting part of our ministry. During our 16 years in France, we have had a team every summer, leading teams as small as 3 and as big as 25! Summer evangelism has been varied: Gospel distributions, concerts, mime, drama, English clubs, sketchboard, puppets, sports, kids clubs, street evangelism, and coffee house. Friendship has also been a very good way for summer workers to touch French people. We have used the summer teams not only in our own churches, but in other evangelical churches in the region as well. Alain Guillaumie was invited by his friend, a member of our church, to one of our summer activities. He liked it and came to church the following Sunday. He soon accepted the Lord, eventually got baptized, and then even got married in our church, all thanks to summer evangelism. There are many, many other similar stories.
Our most significant ministry in France, I believe, is showing French people the warmth of God’s love through hospitality. I like to call it “warmth evangelism.” Kandee is divinely gifted and perfectly skilled for reaching out to people through the home. We have regularly hosted evangelistic receptions, welcoming on some occasions up to 80 unsaved individuals into our home. We’ve hosted marriage and funeral dinners in our home, baptismal celebrations, as well as church barbecues and new years parties. Kandee has also been the chief cook at our regular “Candlelight and Silver” evangelistic banquets. Our home has also served as the planning headquarters for the local Christian Women’s club, which reaches people for the Lord through evangelistic teas, luncheons, brunches. Monique Buisson, a friend of ours, accepted the Lord at one of these outreaches. Kandee sees our home as place where needy French people may experience the warmth of God’s love. People know they can drop in and always find a warm welcome. Kandee’s mastery of art of French cuisine has been a wonderful way to touch French people for God.
Kandee and I have been involved in two church plants. We joined the church plant at Franconville in 1987 (North of Paris), seeing it grow from 40 to over 100. Then, in December 1992, we oversaw the church plant in Eaubonne. This church was launched by a massive phone and mailing compaign.
As of January 2003
 
Kandee teaches part-time at Black Forest Academy. She teaches Home Economics which they actually call "Indepentant Living." This year her classes are all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then all day on every other Friday. She loves teaching and having a positive impact on these kids' lives.
Kandee is also involved on Sundays in a French church, L'Eglise Evangelique de Guebwiller. She leads a Women's Bible study.
Freddie is involved as well in this French church on Sundays, where he takes turns filling the pulpit. The church has no pastor, but several elders and visiting pastors who can preach.
Freddie works one day a week with Famille Je t'Aime (FJA), a French family ministry. FJA is launching several Focus on the Family ministries in France. FJA has many ministries to French families, through camps, weekends, conferences, helping families deal with the challenges of marriage, parenting, dealing with issues such as sexuality, communication, addictions, the empty nest, aging, grieving, etc, working with teens, men, women.
Freddie works full-time with Greater Europe Mission's EuroTeam Outreach program. He is Special Outreach Coordinator. What's this mean? Well, EuroTeam created a new category of outreach the type of mission projects that Freddie specializes in. Freddie has a burden for national pastors, so he is involved in mission trips to enrich and edify national pastors. Freddie loves to help small churches grow and to make new contacts through pure street evangelism, also through evangelistic opportunities such as big events, such as the Olympics, the World Cup, etc. Freddie is also involved with EuroTeam Outreach in their Children's program, Imagin'air, which he helped produce with his colleague, Durand Robinson and CreativeWorks and here as well.
|
